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For the longest time, I’ve asked to get really, really sick. I’ve had something hanging over me for the longest time. It was just a general feeling of malaise that just cloaked me. I just wanted to get really ill and get it over with. I even walked in the rain and allowed myself to get slightly soaked and I didn’t take a warm bath right after just to get a bit ill–didn’t work by the way. Once I got ill, I thought it would be over in a couple of days.

You know the adage “be careful what you wish for”? Well, I wasn’t very careful. I certainly got what I wanted. I am well and truly ill! Today is day 8 of me being ill. I kind of feel much better but I’ve still got headaches and my nose still runs occasionally and I’ve still got a lingering fever.

I’m determined to go back to work tomorrow though. I’ve been away for far too long and work is piling up. I think if I just force myself to be active, the activity will take my mind off being ill.

Jim Paredes was a third of a trio of singers from the Philippines called The Apo Hiking Society. I grew up listening to their songs. They filled our afternoons during high school. I think it’s a Filipino rite of passage to have a period in your life where you are completely enamoured with Apo Hiking Society songs. I think it’s because they talked about school and things that Filipino kids could related to. It was good music but good music with an excellent foundation in good values.

I follow Jim Paredes on Twitter because he makes sense. If you want to follow him he goes by @jimparedes on Twitter. He also does photography classes which I find really interesting. I just kind of wish I was near enough to where the classes are so that I could go to one of his classes! Once in a while though, his little nuggets of wisdom really hits the spot! I thought I’d share it.

Today is another opportunity to reconnect the dots
and come up with new meanings of life.
Avoid habitual unhappy connections.~Jim Paredes

The growth of living things always signifies hope to me. And nothing makes me smile more than daffodils and crocuses springing up to signify the arrival of spring and sunshine! It’s a pity I haven’t been able to save any daffodil photos but at least I’ve got crocuses to show you!

This photo of these lovely crocuses were taken in the gardens near Colchester Castle.

These bright yellow crocuses were springing up in the park near Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich.

Not because there’s a family emergency…well, in a way this is an emergency. I’m running out of photos of my mom to post on her birthday! I’ve just posted a poem on Facebook in honour of my mom’s birthday and I had to look through my photos to find a picture that I hope will be something she approves of.

My mom sort of hates having her photo taken because she says that she doesn’t know how to smile for photos. I don’t think she’s ever used the word weird, but she’s always said that she doesn’t look good in pictures. I disagree. My mom looks good in photos when she doesn’t try to look good! Like every child, they think their mother is the most beautiful woman in the world and I am definitely not any different. Her university graduation photo is one of my favourite photos. I’m fairly sure my dad took one look at her and went “hubba-hubba!” (the fact that she trained in his lab makes me want to wiggle my eyebrows at my dad! hahahaha!).

I miss my mom. I miss watching her watch the tv at an angle (she doesn’t look at the telly directly for some reason! she’s always done so, for as long as I can remember). I miss how she cries at everything (yes, she will cry at a Hallmark or a Kodak commercial!). I miss her gentle smile and her gentle touch and how she fusses over us when we’re ill. I miss her cooking, especially when she makes a huge production (when I was little, every Saturday morning, she would make coconut macaroons and Sunday evenings were creme caramel evenings!). I miss watching her glasses slip down her nose when she’s reading something intently. I miss the sound of her voice, even when she’s telling me off for not doing something she’s asked me to do (as mothers are wont to do). Most of all, I miss her hugs. I think I miss them the most now because I’m ill and want to be taken cared of, tucked in bed, and fed and given 7Up.

Today is my mom’s birthday and I’m not with her. I miss her. I know she misses me terribly. I hope she knows that there is nothing that I want more in this world than to be able to hug her and wish her happy birthday in person!

I haven’t really written anything worth talking about in a very long time. I think it was because after Post A Day 2011 finished, I lost the drive to write everyday…I stopped thinking about things to write about. Don’t get me wrong. I still wake up every morning thinking about what I should write about. I still feel that awful gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach when the day ends and I haven’t written anything on the blog.

I’ve got so many ideas about what I want to write about but everytime I start, I can’t seem to find the words, as if my thoughts won’t translate into anything sensible. Then I grow frustrated and switch off the computer.

So I’m writing down my frustration. I’m writing down that I’m unable to write anything sensible. I’m writing down something for the sake of writing something down in the hope that this might kickstart a writing frenzy or at least entice the writing muses to come back and play with me.

I’ve still got my writing projects to start on! Maybe I’m not blogging because my subconscious knows I should be working on my writing projects. Hmmm. Really, that’s just an excuse.

I love this photo. This was taken while having breakfast at Dishoom in Soho. I couldn’t resist taking a photo. The simplicity of the restaurant’s decor made it even more attractive. I love how simple the concept was: hanging lamps from the ceiling on very long chains.

I will be honest, the food wasn’t the best, not for me anyway (or else the food photos would be featured too, I suppose) but I may be persuaded to go back if only for the fabulous decor!